A Historic Era of Television Activity is Coming to a Close for Seven Perth
Perth's three commercial television stations established their studios at one of the highest points in the metropolitan area, so they could had ...

Tribute to Jan Vermazen and an era of Film
Jan Vermazen
Jan Vermazen was one of the original Channel Seven Perth employees, and a very important person during the film era.
Early news staff included not only Darcy Farrell as News Editor, but also journalist Ross Cusack, cine cameramen Peter Goodall, Digby Milner, Tom Hall, Lu Belci and film editor Jim Healy, with Jan Vermazen playing a vital role processing the 16mm news film.
George Baker and Jan Vermazen with Jim Healy installing the Houston Fearless film processor
Jim...

“Help people, Jimmy” – the life of Jim Cruthers
John Cruthers
I’d like to thank you all for being here today to farewell our Dad, Jim Cruthers. I’ll be speaking about Dad’s early days and our family life together. Bill McKenzie will talk about Dad’s work as a broadcaster, while Ian Constable will cover his involvement in the community and charity. Finally Sam Cruthers, Dad’s grandson, will give us some of his favourite stories and memories about Poppa Jim.
27 Anstey Street, Claremont
Dad was born at home, 27 Anstey...

Sir James Cruthers
Professor Ian Constable
We all know of the long and exceptional service to the WA community of Sir James Cruthers. Thus to honour his life and service in this hallowed cathedral is truly uplifting. Jim was a choir boy here in his early life and 70 years later a philanthropic leader in its restoration.
From the outset Jim understood his duty of care to others. The 10 shillings from his first job at the newspaper was divided 8 to his mother for board, 1 shilling for transport and one for everything else. As he advanced...

POPPA JIM
Sam Cruthers
Every year, for as long as I remember, our family would travel to Perth for summer holidays with Nanna and Poppa. We stayed in their house at Bird Street, Mosman Park, with its great back yard. It was near Cottesloe Beach, the Swan River, Chidley Point Golf Club and the local cricket nets. It was a great holiday spot for two boys from the inner city of Sydney.
Mosman Park Home
I remember one summer when I was six or seven, Poppa picked us up from the airport. As I was getting out of the car at Bird Street, I...

Tribute to Sir James Cruthers (1924-2015)
Sir James Cruthers (1924-2015) passed away peacefully on Tuesday 13th October, aged 90.
He was the founder of TVW Channel Seven in Perth, the first television station in Western Australia, which opened on Friday 16th October 1959.
A Eucharist to celebrate the life of Sir James was conducted on Monday 26th October, 2015, at St George’s Cathedral in Perth.
This was attended by many of his friends, family and former employees.
The service was conducted...

Lois Fildes the Television Wife who made a Big Difference
The unsung hero of the early days of commercial television was the wives of key people working in the industry, for the husbands often worked long hours to establish the stations. There were also financial pressures within the companies until they could recoup the investments required to achieve success in the market place.
Stan and Lois Fildes
The viability of each station depended on revenue derived from sales of advertisements.
Television in Australia began with two commercial stations each in Sydney (TCN9 and ATN7)...

Archiving of Local News Film from Channel 9’s Library
Over the past year and more Terry Spence, former News Director, together with former Chief Film/Tape Editor Geoff Wallace and freelance News Cameraman Daryl Binning, have been on a rescue mission. The team has been evaluating what should be preserved from STW Channel 9’s large news film library pending the Perth station’s move from its present location.
Terry Spence outlines what was involved.
At night, the STW9 complex showing studios, production and administrative areas, helicopter pad with its Channel 9 logo and...

TVW Female Staff Uniform – Modesty Issues
Well before the bikini, the two or even one piece swimming suit there was a more stringent attitude to the morality of dress and how much skin could be shown in western society.
Morality or modesty seemed to also to be the issue during the early years at TVW Channel 7 in the manner the female staff were to be attired.
In 1981, Gary Carvolth had the opportunity to reflect on this topic and the company policy during the mini-dress era. It required the girls to kneel so that company secretary...

Vale Joanne Crilly
We sadly report that Joanne, the wife of television veteran John Crilly, has passed away after a long and courageous battle with illness. We were first alerted to this by Janine Vidot at Seven Perth.
Kevin Campbell pointed out that she was a wonderful battler for life after not fully recovering from surgery to then survive under duress for many years. Greg Byrne not only pointed this out, but also that John really loved her so much. It was Kevin she went to Melbourne to talk John into coming to TVW from GTV and said Jo was most supportive...